Is Laveranues Coles heading to Cleveland Browns?

The curious case of Laveranues Coles has some insiders in New York wondering if he's on his way to Miami or Cleveland as a free agent.

The Jets' receiver forfeited a guaranteed base salary of $6 million to void the last year of his contract and become a free agent. The thinking in New York is that Coles must have something lined up to give up $6 million.

The logical landing spot would be Miami, where Coles' good friend, Chad Pennington, is the starting quarterback. Coles also is a native of Jacksonville, Fla. Miami, of course, will be a lot warmer than Meadowlands, N.J., in December..

How does Cleveland fit into this equation?

Coles and current Browns coach Eric Mangini were tight. When Coles chafed for a new contract last year, Mangini pacified him in a surprise visit to his home and then had the remaining base salaries in his deal guaranteed.

Later, Coles was so distraught that the Jets dumped Pennington in preseason after trading for Brett Favre that he barely talked to Favre for a large part of the season. It was commonly believed that Mangini also was against the Favre trade, so he and Coles bonded over that issue.

Coles is 31 and is no longer the burner he was coming out of Florida State in 2000. (He surely outlived his more heralded teammate, Peter Warrick, as a pro.) He would fit in Cleveland as a No. 2 receiver, clearly ahead of Donte Stallworth, whose insane contract forces the Browns to keep him another year.

Signing Coles to a long-term deal averaging more than $6 million would also cast the future of Joe Jurevicius in doubt. Last we heard from Jurevicius, he didn't want to see Romeo Crennel and Phil Savage go. He can't be pleased about the prospect of a physically tougher offseason after what his knee's been through the past 12 months.

Certainly, Coles was not at the top of anyone's wish list when handicapping what the new Browns' management team might do in free agency. But strange things are happening in Berea these days. Stay tuned.